WINNIPEG - The Winnipeg Sea Bears of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) announced Wednesday that they will partner with Brandon University to host the next iteration of their Summer Series of youth basketball camps. Sea Bears players and coaches will head to Brandon on Sunday, May 26 to coach youth at the Jumpstart Multi Sport Court. The free camp is open to kids from ages nine to 14 and will run from 1 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. Registration is now open at seabears.ca . Since the inception of the Sea Bears Summer Series in 2023, the one-day camps have served over 300 Winnipeg youth. The Brandon camp will be the sixth in the Summer Series and will mark the team’s first offering outside of Winnipeg. Sea Bears players and coaches will work with Brandon Bobcats women’s head coach Jaime Taggart to run the programming. The Sea Bears community engagement team will be on site to bring fun for the whole family with giveaways and activities like cornhole, pop-a-shot and more. Sea Bears merchandise will be available for purchase at the event. The Sea Bears have also partnered with Alt Hotel Winnipeg to give away a “Hoop Dreams” prize package at the camp. Valued at $380, the package includes a full overnight experience for a pair of visiting Sea Bears fans: two tickets to the team's June 16 home game against Edmonton, overnight accommodations at Alt Hotel, a game-day parking spot, two t-shirts and a $100 Winnipeg Downtown Biz gift card. All attendees, registered in the camp or not, will be able to enter the draw. Those registered to participate in the camp are asked to bring their own outdoor basketball, if possible. In the event of rain, the camp will be moved to Healthy Living Centre at 2010 Louise Ave. For registration, visit seabears.ca . Spots are limited and will be filled on a first come, first served basis. ###

WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Sea Bears of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) begins their pre-season training camp Monday morning at the Sport Manitoba complex in downtown Winnipeg, Man. The team also announced their training camp roster, which brings a combined 55 years of professional experience in the NBA, CEBL, NBA G League and overseas professional leagues. The team will welcome back CEBL MVP Teddy Allen for season two. Allen averaged 27.2 points last season en route to the league's top honour. The Phoenix, Ariz. product saw similar scoring success overseas in the British Basketball League (BBL) this winter, pouring in over 22 points per game with the Leicester Riders in an effort that earned him a place on the league’s Team of the Year. Allen returns to the Sea Bears looking to build on a season in which he tied the CEBL single-game records in scoring (42 points June 2 at Scarborough) and three-pointers (nine June 15 vs. Brampton). Byron Mullens and Darius Days are two additions to watch, both bringing NBA experience with them to Winnipeg. It marks the first time the Sea Bears have rostered players from the NBA. Days, a Florida local, has played nearly 100 games in the NBA G League with the Houston Rockets affiliate Rio Grande Valley Vipers. He was named to the G League’s second team and all-rookie team in 2022-23, earning him a call-up to the Rockets that lasted four games. Mullens was selected 24 th overall in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks, who traded his draft rights to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Boasting nearly 200 career NBA games, his most productive years came with the then-Charlotte Bobcats, where he averaged double-figure scoring in 2012. Mullens most recently played with the New Taipei Kings of Taiwan’s P.League+, where he averaged 19.9 points and 13.7 rebounds over three seasons. A strong contingent of Winnipeg pros join these three. Headlining the local talent are professional veterans Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson , Chad Posthumus and draft picks Simon Hildebrandt and Shawn Maranan . Ogungbemi-Jackson is returning to Winnipeg from one of the top overseas leagues, VTB United, where he ranked second in points per game with 18.9. Posthumus, the 2023 CEBL's top offensive rebounder, returns after representing Canada in FIBA 3x3 tournaments this offseason. Hildebrandt, the reigning CEBL U SPORTS Player of the Year, comes off a strong sophomore collegiate campaign that made him the first player in Manitoba Bisons program history to earn back-to-back Canada West First Team All-Star honours. Maranan joins the team through the draft this year after spending time on the Sea Bears practice squad last season. The University of Winnipeg Wesmen star led his squad to a nationals Final 8 appearance and was named the Wesmen Male Athlete of the Year. Winnipeg's training camp roster features eight local products in total. Lamar Everd, Noah Simpson, Donald Stewart and Daren Watts have all made marks on their respective U SPORTS teams, with the latter two featuring prominently in the Manitoba Bisons (Watts) and Winnipeg Wesmen (Stewart) rivalry. Elisha Ampofo suited up for Manitoba's third U SPORTS school, the Brandon Bobcats. The guard from Milton, ON averaged 13.4 points per game this past season.

WINNIPEG – A long-serving NBA big man is going to make Winnipeg his home this summer. The Winnipeg Sea Bears are excited to announce the signing of seven-foot centre and former first-round NBA draft pick, Byron Mullens ahead of the 2024 Canadian Elite Basketball League season. “I’m looking forward to playing in front of the great Winnipeg fans I’ve heard so much about. We’re going to do everything we can to bring a championship to the city,” said Mullens. Mullens spent five seasons in the NBA after being selected 24th overall by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2009 NBA Draft. Traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder on draft day, Mullens went on to play 189 games in the NBA with the Thunder, Charlotte Bobcats, Los Angeles Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers. 

WINNIPEG - The Winnipeg Sea Bears of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) announced Wednesday that tickets for the team’s first home game May 24 against the defending league-champion Scarborough Shooting Stars have sold out. The demand comes in the wake of a five-sellout 2023 season that saw the Sea Bears reset the CEBL’s single-game attendance record on three separate occasions. An all-time league high of 10,580 fans filled Canada Life Centre for the team’s Aug. 4 play-in matchup with the Edmonton Stingers, the final contest of the Winnipeg’s inaugural season. “We are honoured to see the early excitement for the return of Sea Bears basketball to Canada Life Centre,” said team president Jason Smith. “We hope to continue packing our home venue full of energetic fans as more teams visit Winnipeg from across Canada this summer. We already knew that Sea Bears fans are the best in the nation, and we've worked hard to plan a season-long lineup of entertainment for them. We hope that fans will join us at one of the nine remaining regular-season home games this summer.” Tickets are still available for the Sea Bears’ following home game, a June 1 matchup with the visiting Ottawa BlackJacks. For tickets, visit seabears.ca . The Sea Bears are also gearing up for a series of community celebration games, starting June 19 when the team celebrates Indigenous Peoples Day, continuing with Pride Night June 22 and wrapping up June 27 when the organization celebrates Filipino Heritage Month. The team opens training camp Monday, May 13 at Sport Manitoba in Winnipeg before heading to Saskatchewan to take on the Rattlers May 22. ###

Historic Manitoba basketball court faces retirement after hosting the province's and world's best players on its surface over 60 years.